Tag Archives: food

Jul18

Sambok Deowi – The three dog days

Posted on by
Standard

It’s summer in Korea and with that comes the heat, humidity and grumpiness.  I love summer but this isn’t it.  This is hell. This Capetonian is NOT used to humidity! :)

Today we had the first Boknal Day, also known as dog days.  Boknal is the three hottest days of summer.  It is calculated according to the Lunar calender.  This year, the first boknal day, known as “Cho bok” is today – July 18th.  This marks the start of the hottest period.   The second boknal day, “Jung bok” is on July 28th and marks the middle. “Mal bok”, the third and final dog day is on August 7th and represents the end of the terrible heat.

The secret to beating Korean summer?  Food.  Koreans eat cold dishes and healthy foods that are known for restorative powers.  Some Koreans also believe in “Yi Yeol Chi Yeol”  (beat heat with heat) and eat a range of hot soups or stews that are uber healthy.  In the past, Boshintang (dog stew) was a popular dish served on these three days, but these days most Koreans prefer the chicken soup (Three yay’s to chicken soup!  Chicken Soup *yay!* Chicken Soup *yay!* Chicken Soup *yay!*) So here ye’ go!  What to eat to beat the heat:

Samgyetang (Chicken ginseng soup)

Samgyetang is one of my favorite Korean soups.    A chicken is stuffed with rice, garlic, ginger, licorice root and a few yummy herbs.  It is then boiled to make a hearty and nutritious broth.   When you have a cold, this is also the “I-miss-my-mommy-meal” to have.

Jjimdak 

In this yummy summer dish, chicken is mixed with spicy peppers, mushrooms and other vegetables and stewed in a sweet but spicy soy sauce broth.  It is often served with dongchimi (radish kimchi) because it neutralizes some of the spiciness of the dish.

Jangeo-gui

Jangeo-gui is broiled eel.  It is often seasoned with salt or  hot pepper paste, sugar, soybean sauce, minced garlic, ginger, or  sesame oil.

Naengmyeon

I love it.  Boyfriend hates it.  This is cold noodles.  Literally.   Naengmyeon is made with buckwheat noodles.  There are two different types of Naengmyeon.  Mul Naengmyeon served with an ice cold broth (think ice cubes or crushed ice in your soupy noodle dish) or Bibim Naengmyeon, which is topped with spicy gochujang (hot pepper paste).  Both are usually served with a boiled egg, cucumber, and pear slices.   I love the cold, vinegary taste.

Bingsu

Korean desert.  Personally I do *not* like this one… :/   This dessert is made with shaved ice, fruit, rice cakes, sweetened milk, and syrup.  Sounds good?  Yeah. Then they add red beans.  Meh.  Apparently there are also other flavors, like coffee (instead of the beans) and fruit.  I’d much rather just have a scoop of Baskin Robbins and use the ice in a nice Mojito..  :)

Anyways, eat these dishes to survive this terrible heat!  Another popular one is watermelon!  Expensive but oh so delish!  We actually had watermelon as well as samgyetang for lunch at school today!  Happy Cho bok!  And since it’s not actually hot today.. at all.. May the other two be as cool as today!

xx

Nov16

Say Kimchi! :)

Posted on by
Standard

From my old blog, posted December 18, 2010:

Okay, so as promised, I’ll write something about *kimchi*.   It’s like sushi. Either you love it – or you hate it, except it’s not sushi.  It’s cabbage – spicy, rotten cabbage.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Kimchi is an extremely healthy traditional fermented Korean side-dish.  Different vegetables can be used to make kimchi, like green onion, radish and cucumber, but the most common kimchi is made with napa cabbage.  It is rich in Vitamins A, B1 and B2, calcium and iron.  It also contains a lot of fibre and is low in calories.  The key ingredients in most varieties of kimchi (besides the vegetables) are red pepper flakes, salt and garlic. It can also be used in a variety of main dishes like soups and rice dishes.

The cabbage, spices and brine ferments in traditional jars – often seen outside homes.  Kimchi refrigerators are also used as a more modern way to make kimchi.

My all-time favourite kimchi is cucumber kimchi.   It is not as fermented as the cabbage kimchi, but it is awesome!  I am tempted to try and make it this weekend as it’s really easy and I don’t need a kimchi pot!!  We often get this at school too which is where I fell in love with it!  Cucumbers, green onion, onion, garlic, red pepper paste and vinegar – yummy!  It’s similar to pickles and only needs to “rest” for a day or two.   This cucumber kimchi photo is from a website – not mine! I googled “how to make cucumber kimchi” and found a website called Dr.Ben Kim.  So this is his kimchi :)

**Did you know:  The average Korean eats (cabbage) kimchi 3-5 times a day.  This adds up to millions of tons of kimchi consumed by South Koreans every year.  In 2010, due to early and heavy rains, as well as some typhoons, crops were destroyed which resulted in a Kimchi crisis.  Korea imported some Chinese cabbage for some relief.  Farmers sold their cabbages for 7 times the normal price.  South Korean media called it a Kimchi Chaos, as Koreans could not go without their Kimchi. **

Nov7

Trolley Dashing

Posted on by
Standard

In about 57 days my feet will touch SA ground for the first time in over a year.  My last visit was SO fast (4 days travel for a 5 day visit to attend a wedding… it took me 4 days to find something to wear…).  This time I will be in Sunny South Africa for 10 days (I still haven’t learned much from my mistakes but I’m getting there!!!)

There are so many things I miss about SA.  I can’t WAIT to go shopping for the silliest things, because not only will I have my own bag to fill – 23 kgs of STUFF! – but also my wonderful mother’s 23kilos, as she’s coming back to Korea with me for 2 weeks.  I’ve got it all planned out.  My mom is not allowed to pack socks, or stockings, or scarves. She will use mine.  I will buy extra and keep them in Korea for her.  One coat.  A few jeans.  Underwear.  That’s it.  No shampoos, soaps, face stuff, wrinkle cream, NOTHING!  Space is limited! hehe and reserved for meeee! :P

I need to prove myself this time though.  I wasted SO much time shopping last time, because I didn’t know what I wanted.  Well, I did sort of, but once you hit the wonder that is Pick & Pay, your heart melts.  You know that this is going to get out of hand, so you mumble to yourself “I am stronger than this” and you start at aisle 1 and work your way through, checking off items on your list.  The problem with ‘I-need-to-take-SA-back-with-me’-shopping is this:  I *never* leave with “just the list”.  Some conniving … employee… is out to get all expats, by placing all the “I’ve-forgotten-about” items between the items on your list.  So shopping goes like this:

We did good, Mom!

Aisle 1:  Soups and stews

Okay, I need to get white onion soup pow…OH MY WORD POTATO BAKE!!!! (grab 5)…der.  Maybe I should get brown onion too… Oh and it’s going to be winter soon… I’ll take Chicken to..AAAH GRAVY!

Aisle 2: Sauces and Condiments

Chutney of glad nie, waar is jy Mrs Balls? Aaaah kyk hoe kyk sy vir my!  Oh my word, 470g… that’s heavy… I’ll take the plastic one.. it’s 1.1kg but it’s plastic.. so more chutney…. less … glass. (Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it???)  OH MY WORD SPUUUUUUUUR SAUCE!  And that’s when you start hating the expat-hating employee.

So this time, I’m sticking to my list.  However, since I know what the Expat-hater’s plan is, I have decided to give myself 2 minutes to type whatever I want to buy on this post.  So here it is…    3…. 2….. 1!

toothpaste  chutney  tampons haha  WINE  spur sauce  koo apricot jam  amarula  ponchos  salt and vinegar chips   chicken spice  country herb and garlic spice potato spice worcestershire sauce (koreas is horrid)  guava rolls   more toothpaste   deodorant  huuuge towels   clothes and shoeeees   prestic  speckled eggs and jelly sweets  lots of SA candy for my students like sugus??   creme soda   mince mate hahahaha   lots of curries   passion fruit cordial  cocktail mix.  jungle  oats! milo  rooibos real coffee biltong – screw customs.

DONE!   Okay looking back at this unedited list, it’s rather funny!  Lots of JUNK FOOD so I should add diet pills haha!  But these are the things I miss sooo much!   It seems like I’m a drunk too!!! … I make myself feel better by reminding myself that these are the things I have stocked in a little cupboard in my kitchen.  And when I’m feeling homesick I take out one of my treasured items, get into bed, download a movie in 3 minutes and  just chill :) yeaaah!   LOL!   So this is my trolley dash.  :)

Thanks to Emile van Rooyen for the post idea!  To the old and new teachers, my question is this:  What can’t you live without?  What will you grab in your trolley dash?  (no, you can not bring steaks into the country!)  Click on comment and give yourself 2 minutes!! :)

Aug26

Ouma beskuit and Cheezy Chippy Goodness*

Posted on by
Standard

When I go back to South Africa (…eventually)… there’s one thing I really want to ship home: a lifetime supply of “Choco pies” or “MarketO pure chocolate brownies”.  They are *divine* to say the least.

Some nights though, when PMS isn’t a good enough reason to stuff my face with pure chocolate brownies, I get insane salt cravings.  You see, in Korea, there will hardly ever be salt shakers on tables in restaurants.  Pastries are sweet.  All of them.  (side note:  kan iemand asseblief vir my n frieken quiche airmail?)  Some soups are really salty, other foods aren’t.  We had dinner a few weeks ago at a really nice Italian restaurant in town.  My friend and I both ordered *delicious* chicken salads, but when my friend asked for some salt, the owner got  completely overwhelmed.  She kept pointing at the salad and her hand signals indicated that we didn’t need salt, because the salad was served with salad dressing. (Yes, raspberry dressing. SWEET dressing.)  She brought the salt, but I think we completely freaked her out.

On nights like these, when the salt cravings start to distract me from series-marathons, there’s only one thing I can do:  Get out of bed, sneak to my kitchen – lights off ( because by this time I’m already out of half my clothes cause it’s so damn humid in summer!) and in the dark my hand will find its way around a pack of salty South African Gold:  Niknaks… wait, it deserves it’s own paragraph…

niknaks.

It’s like having a cookie jar without any parents around to scold you when you indulge!  Yeah!

I must admit when I first arrived in Korea I missed SA food so much!  I’d do ANYTHING for some Cadbury’s!  It’s much better now, but still stock up that cookie jar for those lonely nights when the cravings bite! :)

Fortunately, getting some yummy SA goods in SK is *not* that hard!  Tip: DON’T CONVERT!  You’re living in Korea, earning Korean salary.   If you’re going to convert to ZAR you’ll never buy anything.  Compare what you want to buy with prices here, and you’ll see it’s NOT that expensive at all.  Especially since these goodies will be delivered to your doorstep!

Here are a few links – to satisfy your every Saffa need!

In no particular order:

SA Spaza Shop

Vanita Swart runs this gem.  Under the ‘documents’ section, you will find products available to order, information on how to order as well as a list of delicious baked goods made to order.  (Can someone say Amarula Cheesecake?  Yes, please.)  The awesome thing about the SA Spaza Shop is the fact that you can request items too.  If you’d like something specific, ask away and Vanita will let you know if it’s possible.   The Spaza Shop normally does a big order every month so you’ll have enough time to make a nice long list!

Facebook link:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/103982269694930/?ref=ts

My favourites:  Mrs.Balls, Niknaks :) and peppadews!

MagikAroma

Mila has been supplying expats with yummy smelling candles and insanely awesome soaps for quite some time.  You can also order lotions, vitamin E oils, Shampoo & rinse, body wash and bodybutter.  These are *perfect* gifts for staff members at school.  Send your order, do an ATM or internet transfer and once payment is confirmed, your order will be sent to you and you should receive it within 2-3 days.  Mila is also known for her delicious crunchies! (Hawermoutkoekies, julle!!!!! mmmmm!)  They are made from Quaker oats, coconut, flour, sugar and butter.  Crunchies are available in cinnamon and traditional, Choc-chip, Peanutbutter, Peanutbutter-Raisin and the latest crunchy in the family: Choc-chip Chilli!

Facebook link:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/247632791918394/doc/?id=247633338585006

My favourites:  Crunchies, Strawberry candles and the Loofah soaps!

The Biltong Guy

These guys have been the #1 reason for orgasmic sounds around the braai on weekends.  My first order was just before Christmas when I wanted to surprise my boyfriend with some Boerewors.  So I ordered that. Just wors.  I will never ever ever order “JUST” wors again!  My next order included the most succulent lamb chops, more wors, chutney frikkadelle (“Whaaat the ffffriiiiikkkadel”!) and herb & maple bangers!  The Biltong Guy is my hero.  They also sell droewors, biltong, kaaswors, lamb for potjie and even braai spice!

Website:  http://www.thebiltongguykorea.com/order.html

Expatshop

Machelle runs the Expatshop and you can buy anything from board games, medicines, toiletries, snacks and even gift cards for family and friends back home.   Log onto their website, add the items you want and voila!  There are quite a few different shipping options, so you can choose how soon you want to “dip n Ouma”!

Website:  http://expatshop.co.za/

Favourites:  Bovril, Spices, Rooibos tea

 

Please let me know of any other SA shops that you’ve used in Korea by commenting!

Happy Shopping!